And Walla Walla Community College’s men’s basketball team is still alive in its bid for a return trip to the NWAACC Championships that will be played March 2-5 at the Toyota Center in Yakima.

The Warriors entered Saturday night’s game in the Dietrich Dome against Eastern Division-leading Big Bend needing a victory over the Vikings or a Blue Mountain loss at Yakima to stay alive in the battle for the division’s fourth and final tournament ticket.

Thank you very much, Yakima.

While the hot-and-cold Warriors fell short against the Vikings, 73-67, the Yaks prevented Blue Mountain from clinching the final tourney berth with a 75-67 victory. And that sets the stage for next Wednesday’s Walla Walla-Blue Mountain showdown in Pendleton that will decide that final berth.

The Timberwolves, 7-6 in the division and 13-12 overall, are one game up on Walla Walla, which slipped to 6-7 and 12-12. But the Warriors already own a 72-55 league victory over Blue Mountain when the teams met Jan. 9 in Walla Walla, and a sweep of the series would knot the teams for fourth place and hand the tournament ticket to WWCC based on the head-to-head tiebreaker.

However, in the moments after Saturday’s loss WWCC coach Jeff Reinland was unaware that Blue Mountain had lost as well.

“Completely out of our hands,” he said at the time.

Now it’s completely back in his team’s hands. If only the Warriors could get healthy.

Reinland’s team has been playing shorthanded almost the entire season due to injuries and defections. In recent games, the flu has taken its toll as well and the WWCC coach used just seven players against the gifted Vikings Saturday night.

Things went well at the outset as Walla Walla knocked down nine of its first 18 shots from the floor, including five 3-point baskets, and stormed out to a 27-17 lead with 7:17 remaining before the intermission. But as fatigue set in, the Warriors sank just five of their last 17 shots and their lead dwindled to 31-30 at the break.

“We came out OK, but as the half wore on we couldn’t hit our shots,” Reinland said. “And we had some good, open looks. I thought we could have been up 10-or-12 points at halftime.”

The Vikings used a 7-2 run to open the second half to take a 37-33 lead. Hunter Hahn’s basket cut the difference to 37-35 with 15:44 on the second-half clock, but two 3-pointers by Kyle Nield, another by Kamen McCullough and two free throws by Nield enabled Big Bend to open up a 48-36 advantage.

Although the Warriors mounted one mini comeback after another over the game’s final 12 minutes, they never drew closer than five points as Big Bend held firm to the lead and the victory.